Zena, Freelance Writer

My Robot Report article is live! Thanks to Simone Blais, Myrna Leader, Faye Arcand, and David Crawford. (Facebook isn't letting me tag you all this morning, for some reason.)

I signed two great new clients this week. I'm so excited to work with them both! https://www.clarkbuilders.com/ https://www.prohome.com/

I get to learn about all sorts of interesting things in my work. This week, so far, I've learned a lot about acoustics and the effect of noise in hospitals and also about a tiny island in the Bering Strait called Little Diomede. About 80 people, mostly Inuit, live on the 7 sq km island. It's part of Alaska and 4 km away is Big Diomede island, which is part of Russia.... I'm writing about the company that built the school for the island. It was built in a factory in Oregon and shipped up to this little bit of rock in the sea.

I wrote the cover story for this magazine. It was a ton of work, and I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Many thanks to Simone Blais, Faye E. Arcand, David Crawford, Paula Schmidt, and Donna Nelson.

This is the most valuable free download I've ever seen. If you're a small business owner and you want to improve your website yourself, you need this tool. #entrepreneur #website

Can you tell that the home in the photo is prefab? This is an article I wrote for the American trade organization, the Modular Home Builders Association. http://modularhousing.com/HtmlPage.aspx

I use an app called RescueTime to track how I spend my time on my computer. This week, I spent over 10 hours on email. Do you know how much time you spend on various activities like email or Facebook? (Image by Gerd Altmann on Pixabay)

"The Biodiversity Corridor will be organized along a narrow strip of wasteland that runs underneath overhead power lines along three main boulevards. The space, currently occupied by nothing other than mowed lawns, will be transformed into flowering meadows to attract birds, pollinating insects and small animals. Earthworks will also be employed to create an undulating landscape for visual interest. New pedestrian trails, upgraded bicycle paths and a series of activity and rest areas will be added as well."

I love this illustration! What are you reading right now? I'm currently reading Peak (non-fiction), re-reading The Good Earth (fiction), and for the first time in forever I'm reading a lot of poetry. ... What about you?

As you might imagine, many women have faced an uphill battle working in the construction industry. Here's my article about women working in the modular construction industry. It was super-interesting to interview the subjects and very difficult to choose just a little bit of what each had to say! http://modular.org/HtmlPage.aspx

A case study I wrote recently for a robotics company. (According to my kids, my coolness score has inched up a wee bit from rock bottom because I'm writing about robots.) Many thanks to Simone Blais, Myrna Leader, David Crawford, and Donna Nelson (who's not on Facebook).

Lots of ideas for small businesses in this article. We’re all hoping for the survival of the small businesses that help our communities thrive.

Disappointing. But unfortunately not surprising.

Remember this BBC interview? Now it's everyone. We're all on Zoom with our kids at home. Dressed up top, sweatpants down below.

Are you a business owner? If you’re not sick or too busy taking care of others, if you're ABLE to market your business, then keep marketing. Adjust, but don’t stop. Here's some standard marketing advice: 1. Be authentic... 2. Be useful 3. Be visible The standard advice still applies. 1. Be authentic. Right now, it's important to acknowledge that things have changed. Check your scheduled social posts. Something that was appropriate 3 months ago can now seem heartless. 2. Be useful. Can your business be useful right now, even if you have to change how you deliver? Moving events online is an obvious example. If you CAN help, there's no shame in offering to do so. 3. Be visible. Covid-19 is a tragedy, but it's not a reason to vanish. I've seen reports that consumption of marketing content is UP right now. Which makes sense many have time on their hands to learn, to work ON (rather than IN) their business, to make plans. Sadly, we all know that some businesses won’t survive this crisis. That can’t be sugar-coated. But don’t feel bad about trying to ensure that your business survives. If your product or service adds value to the world, concentrate on what you CAN do right now, and market it. The world needs you.

Because of this article, I got asked to be a guest on a podcast this morning. Those of you who know me personally will know my response was, "Thanks, I'm flattered. But NOPE, not in a bazillion years!" https://www.linkedin.com//what-smart-office-building-zena/

An all-round terrible situation.

What do you think of shipping container homes?

It's Women in Construction Week! I interviewed a local powerhouse in development and construction, Renée Merrifield. (She has made the list of Canada's 100 Most Powerful Women three years in a row!) She shared with me some lessons she's learned from her years in the industry.

The best way to achieve a quick solution is by sharing data. #coronavirus #healthresearch #medicalresearch